1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved garment for the protection of a health care worker against potentially contaminated fluids such as blood and the like. More particularly, it is concerned with a liquid-impervious garment including a tubular sheath of flexible, fluid-impermeable material provided with a strip attached thereto for conforming a portion of the sheath around the foot of a health care worker on which it is worn.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Operating room personnel are required to work in an environment which subjects them to exposure to the bodily fluids of the patient. In particular, surgeons and surgical nurses must work in close proximity to patients which may have blood, lymph fluid or other bodily fluids which are potentially contaminated with diseases such as hepatitis or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Such diseases may be career-ending or even fatal if contracted by the health care worker. Accordingly, there has been developed a need for a garment which will adequately protect the physician, nurse or orderly working in the operating room from contact with these potentially contaminated fluids. This is especially the case in regard to protective garments to be worn around the health care worker's feet and ankles, as standing fluids may accumulate during the course of an operation which may result in virtually continuous contact between the health care worker's feet or shoes and the bodily fluids which accumulate on the surface of the operating theater.
In the past, shoe covers have been developed for use by workers which must protect themselves from contamination or protect the surrounding environment from contamination carried into the area by the individual. For example, shoe covers have been developed for use in the electronics-assembly clean rooms which are also used by health care workers. One example of such a shoe cover is that marketed by the American Hospital Supply Corporation as Micro-Clean 2-1-1-2 high-top shoe cover, sold under catalog number 69225.
While the shoe covers have been useful in electronics-assembly clean rooms and other environments not subjected to a large volume of fluids, health care workers who must stand in pools of accumulated body fluids during the course of a surgical operation have recognized leakage by the shoe cover around the sole portion where the fabric attaches to a synthetic resin plastic sole. Leakage also occurs through the fabric during saturation by liquids. Fully water-proof or liquid-impermeable shoe covers have proven too expensive to be disposable and too bulky for storage and proper size-ranging availability.
Yet further, the shoe covers often have a slick bottom sole which is particularly troublesome in an operating room environment where large pools of fluid may accumulate on the floor making traction difficult. Yet further, it has been found that where the garment is fully fluid-impervious, the wearer may become uncomfortable because of the weight of the material and the lack of ventilation in the garment. For this reason, garments of particularly heavy fabric are unsuitable for use in the operating room, while on the other hand, extremely thin materials are subject to tearing which defeats the entire purpose of the garment.
In addition, a desirable health care worker garment must be inexpensive and disposable to avoid the possibility of contamination to subsequent patients in successive operations. A desirable garment must fold compactly for storage until the time of use and must also protect substantially the entire lower half of the health care worker's body, i.e. from the toes to the chest. It must remain relatively light in weight, flexible and sufficiently inexpensive to construct so as to be disposable. The shoe covers of the prior art have failed to provide adequate protection to the legs of the health care worker and have not been provided in a unitary, single garment which may be easily packaged, donned and thereafter disposed.